Chapter 13
As soon as I opened my eyes I was blinded by the light that was streaming into the luggage area. Matthew had opened the hatches and was allowing the blinding light to enter the area. I lazily got to my feet and began walking towards the opening. I found myself looking at a large parking lot next to a large open filed.
"Ah it's good to see you awake. Please know that the next time we stop will not be for another couple of hours." Matthew said when he noticed me.
"Where exactly are we?" I asked as I blinked my eyes to help them adjust to the light.
"We are exactly a few miles outside of the city. Once we pass through that it will be a strait shot to Onyx Cave National Park." Matthew said as he began to paint the ground with strange markings.
I jumped out of the cargo area and walked around for a bit. The field that was next to the parking lot had a few buildings which I could only guess were information centers. A few people walked around and only a couple of them payed any attention to me. At one point a group of kids ran over and began patting me on the head.
After that experience I ran back to the bus and found Matthew still sitting outside.
"Welcome back I hope the humans didn't give you too much trouble."
"Nah everything was fine."
"Good, by the way I have a question to ask you umbreon. If you don't mind me asking are you moving from the city to the wild, and is this your first time?"
"Well I use to live in Big Oak Town, but I thought maybe the wild would be a bit more…relaxing!"
Matthew raised one of his eyebrows and shook his head.
"The wild isn't a relaxing place for a pokemon. It's filed with dangers that could cost you your life. You have to stay on your toes or you're going to end up in someone's stomach."
"Thanks for the advice…Any more tips or advice to help me survive?"
"No, but I do know a place that could help you."
Matthew got to his feet and began walking towards the building that sat in the middle of the field. A few moments later he retuned carrying a folded paper map. He quickly unfolded it and revealed a network of colored trails that weaved and intersected each other. Matthew toke his tail and began painting along some of the trials.
"When we reach the bus depot you will see a red colored sign. That marks the start of the red trail." Matthew said as he pointed to the bus depot then to the entrance to the trail, "Follow the red trail until you reach the point where it intersects the yellow trail. Follow it until you reach this portion of the trail At that point you will have to cross a bridge that spans a large river. Don't cross the bridge instead get off the path and move towards the large cluster of rocks."
"Ok" I said as I followed his finger as he traced out the painted over trails.
"Once you reach the group of rocks tell them Matthew sent you." Matthew said as he folded up the map and handed it to me.
I grabbed the map with my teeth and bowed my head in thanks. With the map in my jaws I jumped back into the cargo area and towards my sleeping friends.
The bus lurched forward and continued its journey towards the national park. At this time I was telling DJ and Sophie about my conversation with Matthew. DJ dug through someone's bag and found a flashlight, and used it to help us see the painted over map.
"So we just need to follow the trails until we reach this part of the river. Sounds easy enough." DJ said as he held the flashlight.
"Well we should also keep in mind that there is a chance that we might run into humans and some of these trails might run along or in someone's territory." Sophie exclaimed, "So we need to stay on our toes at all times. How good are you guys at fighting?"
DJ and I looked at each other and then back to Sophie.
"You know we actually don't know any moves that might cause decent damage." I said a little embarrassed."
"Then how in the name of Arcues did you defeat Sheldon?!" Sophie yelled.
"Luck I guess?"
"You obviously tapped into something to perform some of those moves. Maybe if we keep putting you guys into life or death situations then maybe you might learn a move or two." Sophie said as a devious smile formed on her face.
"Let's not get any ideas Sophie." DJ muttered, "We don't need a whole pack of houndooms chasing us, or a ragging salamance breathing fire at our behinds."
"I will keep those in mind…I was thinking of you guys pissing off something huge and strong and seeing if that triggers anything."
"Sophie, we don't know what causes us to suddenly know how to use elemental moves. It could just be our natural instincts kicking in." I said trying not to imagine a salamance setting my tail on fire.
"Well whatever it is we need to find some way of teaching you guys to call upon those skills? For now though let's just try and relax and think about getting to this place." DJ said as he turned off the flashlight.
For the rest of the ride we sat in silence listening to the bus's engine. As I sat there I began to wonder if there was any way that I could find a way to summon my elemental powers. I closed my eyes again and began to focus on summoning the power. I could feel something stir inside me. A strange feeling began to take hold of me. The feeling was growing stronger and stronger, and it felt like it was pulling me. My thoughts began to become fuzzy and I could feel myself being dragged away into the depths of my mind.
I could almost imagine myself trying to stay awake and hold onto reality. In front of me a pair of glowing red eyes appeared. The look they gave me was wild and untamed.
"Body snatcher…unworthy to wield me!" A voice growled, "BEGONE BODY SNATCHER!"
My eyes snapped open and I was taking in big gulps of air. The bus was still moving and my friends were once again asleep. I slowly got to my feet and began looking around the bus. Everything seemed normal and orderly. I toke a sigh of relief and slowly laid back down.
Whatever I tried to summon didn't want me controlling it, and if I couldn't control it then how was I going to survive out in the wild.
The bus began to slow down until it finally came to a complete stop. Matthew threw open the cargo areas doors and began ushering pokemon out of the area. I awoke my friends, grabbed the map, and the three of us made our way towards the open door.
The bus was parked just outside of the parks welcome center. The sun hung low in the sky as we began walking across the parking lot and towards the trail head. A faded, red arrow pointed in the direction of the trail. I turned to my friends and toke a deep breath.
"Alright are you guys ready for this?" I asked.
"Heck yeah let's do this!" Sophie said as she hoisted her fist into the air.
"I'm ready as I will ever be." DJ muttered as he looked down the trail nervously.
With that I turned my attention back to the trail and started walking down the dark, dirt trail. We continued walking until we finally decided to take a break near a small river. The sun was starting to sink and the trail began to become darker.
"I think we should stop here for the night and continue in the morning." I said, "Let's find a place to sleep that's far from the trail."
Sophie and DJ nodded in agreement and the three of us ducked into the thick brush. Once we were far enough we quickly voted for someone to take the first watch. Once that was done I slumped down onto the ground and feel asleep.
Later that night DJ shook me awake and told me it was my turn. The night was cold and dark save for the dim light created by the moon. A few moments passed and I caught myself as I was about to fall asleep. My eyes felt heavy and I just wanted to lie down and sleep. Just as my eyelids closed the sound of a branch snapping caused me to go on high alert. I scanned the area, and saw nothing out of the ordinary.
"Strange…it almost sounded like it was close by. Maybe it was just my imagination." I thought to myself, "Well hopefully we don't have to deal with anything tonig…"
"JACKSON…DJ SOMEONE HELP ME!" Sophie screamed from somewhere behind me.
I quickly got to my feet and ran in the direction of her voice. When I reached her I found her dangling by her foot from a tree. A strand of white silk was tied around her foot.
"Sophie are you alright?" I whispered as I carefully began walking towards her.
"No you idiot I'm dangling from a tree branch, and I would appreciate it if you would help me down." Sophie whispered as she began squirming around trying to free her foot.
I took a few more cautious steps when suddenly a strand of white silk shot out and hit the ground in front of me. I followed the silk until my eyes landed upon a giant ariados sitting on the tree that Sophie was tied to. The spider's eyes glinted a feral red as he quickly began to climb back up into the trees branches. The strand holding Sophie's foot began to move and Sophie began to slow rise up. She let out another call for help. DJ stumbled out from the brush, his body covered in white sticky silk. Behind him I could make out four short shapes as they began to move towards DJ.
A strand of silk shot out from the darkness and I quickly dogged it. The ariados was now dangling from the branch that Sophie was hanging from. I ran forward, dug my claws into the tress truck, and tried to climb the tree with my claws. The ariados made a sound that sounded like a chuckle and he continued to reel in Sophie. DJ tried his best to fight off the other pokemon, but they continued to bombard him with strands of web. Using his only free hand he pushed his palm against one of the spiders and unleashed a powerful blast that sent the spider flying across the forest. The other spiders let out a collected hiss and retreated back into the brush.
Sophie was getting dangerously close to the ariados. I looked up at the spider and let out a frustrated growl as I tried to climb the tree again. This time my claws sunk deep into the trees bark and I slowly began scaling the tree. The ariados watched me in amusement as it continued to reel Sophie in.
"Bastard come down here and fight me!" I yelled as I dug mu claws deeper into the tree.
The ariados let out a small chuckle before it began slowly retreating back into the branches of the tree. In that instant I felt the strange feeling that I had felt on the bus. A sudden rush of energy filled my body and a small black sphere began to form in front of me. Sophie let out a small gasp a huge smile spread across her face. Once the sphere was big enough I launched it right into the ariados's face. The spider tried to dodge the attack, but the sphere slammed against one of his legs.
The spider made a loud hissing sound and the silk that was holding Sophie broke in half. The pikachu tumbled down to the world below and landed on a pile of leaves. Now that she was safe I could finish off this bastard for good. Before I could raise my paw and continue climbing a strand of white silk shot out from the tree branches and secured my paw to the tree. The ariados made a hollow cackling sound as he began to advance towards me. His eyes were filled with hunger and a strange green liquid oozed from his fangs. Behind him a group of spinarak's followed behind and they too had green ooze dripping from their fangs.
"Great my second greatest night mare was coming true…I am going to be some spiders dinner." I grumbled to myself as the ariados got closer.
The ariados opened his mouth and was just inches from sinking his fangs into my head. From below a bolt of lightning climbed up the tree and struck the ariados causing him to lose his grip on the tree and fall to the ground. Sophie began unleashing a volley of attacks upon the ariados. The night was filled with her yelling at the spider as she continued to unleash her rage upon it.
"STUPID SPIDER! IM NOT GOING TO BE AN APOTISER FOR YOU AND YOUR BUDDIES! I WOULD HAVE GIVEN YOU FOOD POSIONING ON MY WAY DOWN!"
I sighed with relief and began trying to free my paw from the web. Once I had done that I feel down to the earth and landed on something soft.
"Jackson…could you get your fat butt off of me?" DJ wheezed.
I jumped off of the riolu and apologized for using him as a landing pad. I was just happy that everyone was safe and unharmed save for a few strands of web. Now the ariados on the other hand was fried to a crisp thanks to Sophie.
"I think you went a little over board with those attacks Sophie." I said as I watched the smoke rise off of the ariados.
"HE WAS ABOUT TO EAT US!" Sophie yelled as she walked over to the ariados and kicked it, "I'm not about to be eaten by a giant spider. I'm too cute and soft to be eaten."
"Cute and soft more like ferocious and evil?" I whispered to DJ.
"Did you say something Jackson?" Sophie asked as she turned towards me with a fake grin on her face.
"No nothing nothing at all."
"Good now then I will take watch and you two get some sleep. Then tomorrow morning we can have Bar BQ for breakfast."
We didn't have Bar BQ that morning. The ariados from the night before had fled and left us a small pile of berries as an apology. Hey at least he was apologizing or maybe he was trying to get on Sophie's good side to avoid being grilled if we ever ran into him again.
We ate a few of the berries and wrapped the rest up in a bundle of leaves for later. We continued following the red trail until we reached the cross section were the red trail crossed and the yellow trail crossed. We followed that until we reached the bridge that Matthew had mentioned while giving me directions.
The river ran just parallel to the rocks and the rocks were covered with large amounts of moss, leaves and branches. The large stones seemed to form a small cave that appeared to stretch back into the hillside. The three of us wadded our way through the river and towards the opening. Once we were close enough I yelled into the opening and waited for a response.
From deep within the tunnel I could here to sound of footsteps and the sound of someone grumbling as they approached the tunnels entrance.
"What do you want?!" Yelled a deep, gruff voice.
"Uh, Matthew sent us and he told us that you could help us adjust to life in the wild."
"Matthew? You mean that old bus riding smeargle? That Matthew?"
"Yes that's him…can you help us?"
"Give me a second…"
A few moments past before a very pissed off corphish appeared at the entrance of the tunnel. He quickly looked over us and grumbled before he turned and began walking back into the tunnel.
"Well are you three coming or are you just going to just stand there and wait for some feral to attack you?" He asked before he disappeared into the darkness. I ducked my head as I entered the tunnel and crawled my way towards the corphish. DJ followed close behind and Sophie followed him. The three of us crawled our way through the tight tunnel until we finally entered a large room with a decently tall celling.
The corphish watched us as we tried our best to stand up in the low celling room. He let out a huff of annoyance before he continued walking.
"So Matthew sent you. Typical that old dog just decides that I should get every annoying pokemon he runs into. He does know that there are other entrances into the center. Why does he always send them to me?" The corphish grumbled.
"Uh, what do you mean by center? Aren't you going to teach us how to survive?" I asked before I bumped my head into a low hanging rock.
"Me teach you? Ha, that's hilarious. If I taught you how to survive you might live a few days. No I am just a gate keeper that allows pokemon into the center."
"Center?" Sophie asked
"It's a place where city folk like you who want to live out here in the wild can sharpen your natural instincts and knowledge of the wild. By coming here you have increased your chances of survival by a full sixty percent. Matthew and a good hand full of pokemon are called seekers. They try and convince city folk to come here and learn."
"So you're telling us that there is a whole network of pokemon that are dedicated to helping pokemon learn how to survive in the wild?" I said, "I thought that kind of thing only existed in stories in worlds only inhabited by pokemon?"
"Of course they exist. You think humans are the only species that have the ability to create networks and ways of helping our fellow pokemon. Man you city folk sure are clueless. You spend so much time avoiding cars and eating those strange cupcakes to even think of what might lie below your feet."
The corphish finally stopped and pointed his claw towards a stone wall.
"Stand there and don't move" He said.
I looked at my two friends and shrugged. We followed the corphish's claw and backed up until our backs were square with the wall. The corphish then walked over to the far wall of the room and grabbed onto a thick root.
"So what do we do now?" I asked.
"Remember when I said that you are blind to what lies below your feet? Well this is your sneak peek into the underground world that is invisible to human eyes." Just as he said that he pulled down on the root and the ground beneath us fell away.
The three of us tumbled down into the darkness and the last thing I saw before the hole closed was the corphish waving his claw in farewell. Once the hole had closed up we were left in complete darkness and the only thing I could hear was the sound of our screams. We continued to fall until we finally landed on something sticky. I tried to move my legs but whatever I was stuck to was strong.
"Is everyone alright?" I yelled.
"I'm ok…but I was hoping that we wouldn't have to deal with any more spiders." DJ yelled back from somewhere on my right.
"That bastard wasn't going to help us at all!" Sophie yelled from somewhere on my left, "He just wanted to make us his pet's food!"
As she said this a large yellow spider began making its way towards us. It crawled towards me and looked down at me with a pair of black eyes. The spider cocked its head before it began to cutting away the web beneath me.
Once it was gone I landed on the ground with a thud and I slowly got to my feet. DJ and Sophie quickly joined me and we looked up at the spider.
"Thank you for freeing us." I said nervously.
"It's no trouble at all darling. Just follow the tunnel and you will be at the center. Do be careful my darlings it is dark and we don't want you to trip." She replied in a sweet and silky voice.
She quickly began making repairs to her web and the three of us began walking down the tunnel and towards a bright light. As I got closer my eras began to pick up on the sound of voices and footsteps. What we saw at the end of the tunnel was incredible and unbelievable.
A giant illuminated cave stretched out before us. All along the sides of the cave were path ways, bridges and doors that seemed to lead into different rooms. In the center of the cave was a giant crystal which casted a bright yellow light upon the cave. Pokemon of different shapes, sizes and types walked along the paths and across the bridges that linked the caves sides together.
"This place is huge…" DJ muttered as he watched as a group of eevees scurried across a bridge.
"I heard rumors about places like this existing, but I just thought they were myths." Sophie exclaimed excitedly as she continued to look at the giant crystal.
It was truly something to behold. Who knew that this existed under the park? I just wanted to run across the bridges and see what was in each of the rooms. I wanted to talk to everyone and hear what they had to say about this place.
"Excuse me new comers may I have your attention." A disembodied voice asked.
I looked around in confusion and could not find the owner of the voice.
"In front of you sir." The voice said
I turned and jumped back in surprise. A banette stood there floating in the air in front of me.
"I'm sorry for the scare sir I didn't mean for that to happen. Allow me to introduce myself my name is Bentley and I was sent here by my master to great you. Please tell me where you are from." Bentley said in a very gentlemanly manner.
"My name is Jackson and these are my fiends DJ and Sophie we came from Big Oak Town."
"Did you say Big Oak Town?"
"Yes…why?"
"My master would like to meet you as soon as possible. As it is customary that he meet the new arrivals to give them a warm welcome, but your location might prove to be useful. Please do follow me." Bentley said as he began floating down the trail leading deeper into the cave.
As we walked I continued to take in the magnitude of the cave. It still amazed me that places like this actually existed right under my nose. A whole world that was created by pokemon to help each other.
"Please Master Jackson do try and keep up. After all this place is like a maze to new comers and it would be a shame to lose you." Bentley called from the front.
I shook myself out of my train of thought and quickly caught up to the rest of group. We continued our descent until we finally reached a pair of large wooden doors. Bentley raised his hand motioning us to wait. He then phased through the large, oak doors. A second past and the doors began to slowly creak open. The three of us walked into the room and the doors close behind us.
The room itself was somewhat large and was actually furnished. A long log had been cut and it appeared to being used as a desk. A large green carpet covered the ground, and two carved out logs were being used as book shelves. A pair of stumps had been set up to serve a chairs for visitors. The entire room was being lit by a cluster of the same colored crystal that we saw in the main cavern.
Just behind the desk sat a haunter who appeared to be reading over a couple of documents. Bentley walked over to the haunter and whispered something into his ear. The haunter only nodded and placed the documents down on his desk. He looked at us and gave us a friendly smile.
"Welcome my friends I welcome you to our wilderness training center. Now Bentley mentioned that you came from Big Oak Town I would like to ask you a few questions regarding some recent events if you don't mind."
"What recent events?"
"The events involving the kidnapping of six contest winners." The haunter said as he glanced at each if us, "I would like to know if you have ever had any involvement with a certain organization."
"So you know about Team Sandstorm?" I asked.
The haunter smiled and spread his hands out.
"I know everything about them you could say I that I was forced to help them redesign one of my greatest achievements"
"You don't mean…"
"The mind meld project…or what Wilson now calls The Topaz Project"
Author Note
Happy 2016 everyone hope you all had a great Holiday season. Thank you again for the support and I really hope you are enjoying the series so far. If you want don't forgot to leave a comment and if you have any questions don't be afraid to send me a message. Again cheers to a great 2016 and more awesome chapters.
-Shifu18